Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International
Posted on 05/22/2008 2:15:43 PM PDT by Coleus
Sen. John McCain responded to the news of Sen. Edward Kennedy’s brain tumor saying that Ted Kennedy was the “last lion of the Senate.” Nice words, but hollow. Clearly Kennedy has been a forty year force to reckon with in the US Senate, but lionizing him for his headstrong political partisanship over four decades is a little like saying that sticking around for a long time and being opinionated qualifies as a “legacy.” That very record of anti-life advocacy is the measure by which his soul will be judged. While I pray for Sen. Kennedy’s recovery from a brain tumor, I pray more for his recovery from the cancerous metastasis of abortion ideology in his soul. Ironically, in the same years in which abortion has become less and less acceptable to the American public, it has become more and more of an obsession for Sen. Kennedy. Prior to Roe v. Wade, Sen. Kennedy had actually held a pro-life view of the sanctity of life. In a letter to a constituent he said,
“While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized – the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old.” (See http://www.worldnetdaily.com/
index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=31615 )
However, post-Roe, Kennedy’s record of recognizing the “value which our civilization places on life” has been, shall we say, less than stellar. In fact, he has a 0% record of voting in favor of life, and there is not one life-related issue in which his vote reflects a concern for the weakest members of our society, let alone the concern that his supposed Catholic faith places on them. Senator Kennedy
In other words, Kennedy has spent the better part of his long political career promoting the forces that kill and maim and destroy all the things that we hold sacred. What a shocking example of public service for a man who purports to call himself Catholic. A month to the day after illicitly receiving Communion at the Mass of the Vicar of Christ in our nation’s capital, Sen. Kennedy seems to have been given a real wake up call. When all moral voices go unheeded, the prospect of death tends to focus the mind on the truth. Let us all pray for his conversion from a career of abortion advocacy, for his enlightenment and for a peaceful death, something denied to all aborted babies in this country.
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International
I ain’t gonna cry either.
.
Just because some Cardinals might go to Teddy's funeral and not chastise him publicly for his abortion views doesn't mean anyone will be recommending him for sainthood. It just means they have a little bit of class. The funeral is for the surviving family members, and it is beyond reprehensible to talk bad about someone at their own funeral.
Besides, neither you, nor anyone else will have any idea whether or not he repented of his sins as he neared death. I pray that he does, and by doing so, can have a full Catholic funeral, but I also believe that he will be a LONG time in Purgatory, not being able to see the full Glory of God, because he'll have to atone for the part he played in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, and of all those unborn babies.
I was only joking about the Sainthood but after reading your post I would suspect that IF they did vote him into Sainthood you would find a nice excuse for it. After all it is the Church that is doing it and we know you can’t go against your church. I have nothing against Catholicism except for the fact that the sheep are sheepish. They know right and wrong like all the rest of us but have to have the church tell them which is which. That above all else. That my friend is how Protestants came into being. Someone wanted to think for themselves, face their God directly and cut out the middle man.
That requires going to confession once a year. He may or may not do that. However, unless he confesses abortion in the confessional, his confessions are invalid.
It is unlikely that his confessions are valid (because not confessing or repenting of abortion in such a serious sin...)
If one ignores the grace of repentance, then woe be to that soul.
We cannot judge his soul. We only know that he does not repent of a serious sin -- abortion.
Abortion, by Old Testament standards, is murder. Jesus never had reason to speak on this subject.
According to Jewish Law, only the following is buried in a Jewish graveyard (which is a very sacred place in that religion) -- unborn babies, people, and books from the Torah (holy books). [Source on this is Dr. Paul Schenck, who was raised Jewish, and is fluent in Aramaic and Greek).
I wonder if our current political and media leadership would seek to eulogize osama bin laden were we to learn of his untimely demise.
Yes, Sen. Kennedy has a horrible disease that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Yes, I think it’s in very poor taste to celebrate someone else’s suffering. Yes, we are called upon to hate the sin but love the sinner.
But perhaps, just perhaps, we can put aside the saccharine- sweet, smarmy praise for this terribly flawed career politician?
The single best (not the only thing mind you) Is that this priest has never once wavered, never once backed down and has always remained true to the Teaching fo Christ and His Church.
(Okay that is more like 4 best things.
You say that, because you obviously don't know anything about me. The Church doesn't canonize folks who have done nothing but sin their entire lives, even if they DO repent on their deathbeds. Saints are people who have worked to build up the people of God, and even though they might have been public sinners at one time, like St. Augustine, they repented, and as a result of that repentance, changed their lives for the good.
As far as your 'sheep' comment is concerned, doesn't Scripture teach us that Jesus is the Shepherd and we are his sheep? I'm sure your comment means that we Catholics obey the Church blindly, without thought or reason. You couldn't be further from the truth, and Pope Benedict XVI is the most ardent supporter of reason, when it comes to dealing with faith issues.
We Catholics don't need the Church, or the Pope, to tell us the difference between right and wrong, but as with all Christians, that 'middle man' can come in handy. After all, as humans, we find it very easy to justify our behavior, even when we know it is sinful, so a pointed reminder now and then will never go amiss.
I’m not sure what his standing would be in the Catholic Church - maybe some freepers could shed more light. He is divorced, and remarried outside the church. I know when the Pope was here recently, he did not take communion while Kerry did. I don’t think he has much of a relationship with the Cardinal in Boston, so I wonder how they will handle his death.
Class? There was a time when Catholics recognized that a church burial had to be preceded by a life of at least outward conformity to the Catholic faith. Now we'll bury any corpse that comes with a wad of cash. This is supposed to show we have compassion. What it actually shows is that we have no more principles that the faithless departed.
Ted Kennedy should NOT have a Catholic funeral, because he is, so far, an unrepentant mass murderer, not a practicing Catholic.
The Church does not allow Catholic funerals for notorious, unrepentant Mafia dons.
And if the funeral is “for the living,” then Kennedy should not have a Catholic funeral, because his entire family are publicly pro-abortion—which means they are all ex-Catholics.
If Archbishop O’Malley or Archbishop Wuerl allows either a funeral Mass or a memorial Mass for a mass murdering anti-Catholic ex-Catholic, then neither one of them is really in communion with the Catholic Church.
The only circumstance in which Kennedy should have a Catholic funeral is if, before his death, he unequivocally repents, and unequivocally affirms what he has denied for forty years: that abortion is homicide; that it is the duty of the State to proscribe and punish abortion; that it is the duty of every Catholic to support laws which proscribe and punish abortion. The only circumstance in which his family should be allowed to receive Communion at his funeral or at ANY Mass is if they make the same public, unequivocal acts of repentance, and public affirmation of the truths they have, so far, denied.
None of this will take place. The Kennedys will have yet another big, splashy Catholic funeral, celebrated by yet another fawning toady of a priest, at which Teddy will be canonized, and abortion and all the other evils the entire Kennedy family supports will not be mentioned. Archbishops O’Malley and Wuerl will be hiding out in an undisclosed location.
Kennedy DID receive Communion at the Pope’s Mass in National’s Stadium. A toady priest took Communion to Kennedy in his seat.
If Teddy Kennedy repents in Confession, we’ll never know it. I’ll leave it to God to judge his soul. But he sure has a LOT to answer for.
Because he has given scandal for forty years, he is obliged to make his repentance KNOWN to the public, or he MUST be refused Communion.
Of course, I’m only quoting Canon Law and the Pope. That means nothing to Archbishop Wuerl of Archbishop O’Malley. They know better.
What would the family think if someone suggested that he is simply a mass of parasitic tissue that is being terminated, or that his quality of life is so poor that it would be better off for everybody if we were terminated?
Personally, I have never found such arguments tot be compelling or convincing.
It always amazed me that Kennedy was supposed to be Catholic. And he was a life-long birth control/abortion author and champion and wears it like a badge of honor.
I certainly would not want to be in his skin when he goes before the Heavenly Council. Instead on him being the one blasting the defendant with pompous rhetoric, it will be him, trying to explain why he was justified to have the blood of over 50 million innocent babies on his hands. (Some of which may have been another Albert Einstein or Steven Hawking, all of which will be revealed at the moment of his conviction.) Not to mention, Mary Jo will be there for a brief testimony.
Oh, I didn’t say anything about Communion. He shouldn’t be receiving, and he knows it. He’s bringing condemnation down on himself for doing so. I’m just talking about his funeral. We won’t know, unless he himself, before he dies, or one of his family members after his death, makes his repentance of his abortion support known. His Confessor wouldn’t be able to do it.
A pastor with integrity will not cover over or absolve this person...
.. but use Christ words to reach out to those still living, who are lost.
His confessor should require a written statement expressing repentance, as a condition of absolution.
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